By Daniel Potter, Capital Public Radio
A bill in the California state Assembly could make it easier for local governments to charge fees to manage and collect storm water, but critics argue it’s a way to get money from property owners without a vote.
Really, it all comes down to how you define the word “sewer.”
Cities and counties in California can’t charge new fees for property without voter approval. Water and sewer services are exempt.
Tahoe Fund and the Tahoe Water Suppliers Association are working together to raise more than $26,000 to help purchase 175 bottom barrier mats that will be used to kill aquatic invasive weeds in Lake Tahoe.
The current inventory of bottom barriers is 1.6 acres short of the maximum 5 acres of coverage permitted by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.
Every dollar the Tahoe Fund raises will be matched by the Tahoe Water Suppliers Association.
Aquatic invasive plants negatively impact the water quality around the shoreline of Lake Tahoe. The Tahoe Resource Conservation District has been able to remove aquatic invasive weeds with the use of bottom barriers and diver-assisted hand pulling.
Donations in support of this and other environmental improvement projects around the lake can be made online.
A kayaker was pulled from being pinned under this tree. Photo/LVFPD
A kayaker is lucky to be alive after getting pinned under a tree on the Upper Truckee River.
Andrew Sessions, an off-duty Lake Valley firefighter, on Sunday afternoon heard calls for help near Portal Bridge. The distressed kayaker’s friend was trying to free him. With Sessions’ help, the man was saved.
He was transported to Barton Memorial Hospital on June 25.
Authorities are reminding people that Upper Truckee River is flowing extremely fast, is incredibly cold and has numerous underwater hazards.
A Minden woman died this spring while paddleboarding the river. There have numerous other reports of dicey situations.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
It might have been a fitful sleep for people in the Truckee area because the earth kept moving early Tuesday morning.
The first temblor hit about 2:02am and the last one (so far) at 5:43am June 27. Fifteen earthquakes were recorded in that time span, with the largest registering 4.1.
The epicenter was about 2.5 miles from Independence Lake and 11 miles northwest of Donner Lake.
There have been no reports of damage.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
By Susan Wood
STATELINE – You could almost hear a pin drop when singer Paul Simon launched “Sound of Silence,” one of the musician-songwriter’s most beloved songs and one of a handful of encores he performed Sunday night for a receptive crowd at Harveys Lake Tahoe to lead off the Outdoor Summer Concert Series.
Simon, who played beyond 10:30pm, provided a music anthology ranging from the tunes of the 1960s with his singing partner Art Garfunkel to a storied solo career in which he reinvented himself in the following decades through African beats and varying culture immersions such as meeting a medicine man in the Amazon of Brazil.
Paul Simon kicks off the 2017 Harveys Outdoor Concert Series on June 25 with a sold-out show. Photo/Julie Campbell
But it was Lake Tahoe with its people and natural setting that embraced the artist June 25.
“There couldn’t be more of a beautiful setting,” said Simon, who came out on stage clad with an understated “Aloha” T-shirt and jeans, along with a hat mostly hanging on the microphone stand that was marked with the letter “e.” The letter is the logo standing for the Half-Earth project as highlighted in Edward Wilson’s eco-conscious book of how to save the planet.
“That book had a profound effect on me,” he told the crowd. So much so that Simon said he pledged all the proceeds from his tour to Wilson’s efforts.
Simon hinted at subtle social activism at various times, including the time he relieved his nine-member band of accomplished percussion, keyboard, bass, string and brass musicians to grab his acoustic guitar for “Sound of Silence.”
“Before I play this song, I’d like to leave you with one thought: ‘Anger is addictive, and we have all become a nation of addicts’,” he said, beckoning the audience to when they hear something to: “Ask yourself: who’s making a profit from this?”
While in agreement with the argument, the audience looked stunned during the 1966 No. 1 blockbuster tune that stayed on Billboard’s top 100 for 143 weeks. It seemed to complement the message.
The singer’s mood appeared to fluctuate – enjoying the rocking out and dancing during the whimsical numbers “You Can Call Me Al” and “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” as well as the perfectly harmonious “Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes” and melodic “Graceland” off the so-named album.
Then, in a change in pace that can turn on a dime, he seemed visibly moved by the crowd reaction to the sentimental, open-road ballads. “The Boxer” off the 1969 “Bridge Over Troubled Water” album and “America” from the 1968 “Bookends” ensemble defined a generation of seekers in the late ’60s.
Paul Simon dazzles an appreciative Tahoe crowd. Photo/Julie Campbell
Anyone listening to “America” could have imagined being young and “hopping a Greyhound” to anywhere in search of a utopian nation filled with characters as referenced with “be careful his bow tie is really a camera.” The poetry of the song is what makes the artistry of music so important to generations of citizens.
Thanks to the artists like Simon, we have a creative chronicle of our soul.
Take from the self-titled album the 1972 lead single “Mother and Child Reunion,” which had members of the crowd bobbing up and down. The lyrics were played with equal treatment to the upbeat melody.
And while Simon doesn’t move a lot on stage aside from heavy string-strumming at times, he brings out the songs that perpetuate movement in the audience. It’s almost as if he proves he’s “Still Crazy After All These Years,” as his 1975 number dictates.
“I like it when you dance,” he reminded the audience.
What he doesn’t respond to is the crowd calling out songs as the Tahoe crowd yelled a number of them.
“I don’t do requests,” he said, half kidding.
But he does give the audience what it came to hear, as cited by Bill Pincus of Phoenix.
Pincus told Lake Tahoe News he hoped to hear “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” – the jumpy 1972 hit spawned from a Time magazine article about alleged radical priests.
“I got what I wanted,” the Arizona man said later.
This wasn’t bad for a last minute event for him and his companion Lorah Neville. The couple drove up from Sacramento. Pincus recalled making a music request to her that he wanted to hear “anything Simon and Garfunkel” without knowing Simon was making a rare appearance where they were vacationing at Lake Tahoe.
“What are the chances of that?” Pincus posed the question.
The Harveys Summer Outdoor Concert Series continues June 30 with Rebelution; July 2 with Sammy Hagar; July 9 with Train joined by Natasha Bedingfield and OAR; July 14 with Lenny Kravitz; July 16 with Third Eye Blind; July 28 and 29 with Jack Johnson; Aug. 4 with Slightly Stoopid; Aug. 16 with The Who; Sept. 1 with Linkin Park; and Sept. 2 and 3 with Eric Church.
By Jon Coupal and Vince Fong, Orange County Register
Before the ink on the governor’s signature has dried on the largest gas tax increase in California history, Sacramento Democrats are fully intending to break their promise to dedicate the new revenue to fixing our crumbling roads.
In the upcoming budget, there is a proposal to divert 30 percent of this gas tax increase to items and programs completely unrelated to repairing our roads and highways, such as park maintenance and job training for felons.
Regrettably, these bait-and-switch tactics are now so commonplace in Sacramento that few notice. For many years, billions in transportation dollars have been diverted from road building and maintenance to the general fund, which has created the crisis we are currently facing. Why would anyone think things will be different now with the new $52 billion car and gas tax hikes?
By Tammy La Gorce, New York Times
Do you think of hotel rooms as having spacious, old-school desks, the kind that invite long hours of working? And bureaus with a half-dozen drawers? Minibars, too? Well, perhaps you haven’t stayed at a hotel lately.
Ben Schlappig, a 26-year-old travel blogger and consultant, has spent more nights in hotels than many people will in a lifetime. So he knows firsthand about the changing design of guest rooms, and he is not completely happy about it.
“I’m a millennial, but I’m also an introvert,” said Schlappig, whose blog, One Mile at a Time, chronicles the 365 nights a year he stays in hotels. “Hotel executives are building everything around millennials right now and they expect all millennials to want to work in these hip, communal lobby spaces or in bed,” he said. “That doesn’t work for me.”
Closets, too, are being eliminated in favor of hanging racks, he said. “Or sometimes, there’s no place to hang your clothes at all.”
One person died June 26 in this South Shore car wreck. Photo/NHP
A head-on collision on Highway 50 claimed the life of one person on Monday.
Nevada Highway Patrol has not released any details about the accident, or conditions of other people involved.
The June 26 accident occurred about 5pm just west of the curve before the Hidden Woods neighborhood.
Traffic is flowing in both directions, but with restrictions and slowly.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
By Ryan Sabalow, Sacramento Bee
Sweeping new gun laws passed last year by California voters and legislators require those with magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition to get rid of them by July 1.
The question is: how many of California’s 6 million-plus gun owners are actually going to comply, even though violators face potential jail time if they’re caught?
Talk to gun owners, retailers and pro-gun sheriffs across California and you’ll get something akin to an eye roll when they’re asked if gun owners are going to voluntarily part with their property because Democratic politicians and voters who favor gun control outnumber them and changed the law.
Volunteers are needed for a lichen study in Great Basin National Park in Nevada.
The July 17-19 event is called Lichen BioBlitz.
There are more than 20,000 species of lichen in the world. The volunteers will learn about these organisms as they catalog them throughout the park.
For more info or to signup, go online.